UNH Today

The UNH nursing department has an excellent history of faculty and graduate students collaborating on quality improvement projects through research and application. Clinical Associate Professor Pamela Kallmerten was the ideal mentor for Emily Stewart '21G, a DNP graduate and nurse practitioner at Riverwoods Exeter, a senior retirement community in New Hampshire.

Kallmerten contributed her experience, expertise and field resources to guide Emily through the development of this concept with a real-life impact on the health and well-being of Riverwoods residents.

Concerned about the low shingles vaccination rate among Riverwoods residents, Stewart engaged in evidence-based research and translation to develop a simple technology for engaging and educating seniors. Her research created a health dashboard allowing residents to access critical information about the risks of shingles – a painful and potentially dangerous nerve-related condition. Stewart's research also tracks data to measure the health dashboard's progress of increasing vaccination protection among this population.

Kallmerten contributed her experience, expertise and field resources to guide Stewart through the development of this concept with a real-life impact on the health and well-being of Riverwoods residents. Embracing this new concept, Riverwoods Exeter plans to expand the dashboard as an entry point for other health services. With the opportunity to develop this healthcare technology as a best practice in senior residences, Stewart and Kallmerten are submitting their research paper for publication.